The Boston Globe - 23.08.2019

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019 The Boston Globe B

Business

ByMeganThielking

STAT

W

hat if you could take your birth

control pill just once a month?

That’s the vision behind the

newest effort by the Boston biotech

Lyndra Therapeutics, which is hop-

ing its slow-release drug-delivery

technology can help improveadher-

ence rates for pill-based birth control.

Oral contraceptivesfail moreoften

than someother birth control options,

in part because many people struggle

to remember to pop a birth control

pill at the same time every single day.

The company has a $13 million

grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation to develop a once-month-

ly oral contraceptive. It’s the latest

target for Lyndra, whichis developing

a drug-delivery platform that slowly

releases medication in the stomach

over a set period of time — “making

daily pills a thingof the past.”

The company is also hopingthat a

once-a-month option will improve ac-

cess to birth control and make it easi-

er for women to keep their contracep-

tive use private. The company says

such a pill could be particularlybene-

ficial in developing countries, where

an estimated 214 millionwomenwho

want to prevent pregnancy aren’t us-

ing moderncontraception.

“A discreet, convenient, once-

monthly oral contraceptive could

have a profound impact on the lives of

women around the world,” said Amy

Schulman, Lyndra’s chief executive.

The company envisionsa pill that

delivers a long-acting dose of estrogen

and progestin, the two hormones

found in daily combination contra-

ceptives. The design would build on

the platform Lyndra is already devel-

oping for other once-weekly medica-

tions. From the outside, it looks like a

run-of-the-mill medication. But when

PILLS,PageB

‘

A

discreet,

convenient,

once-

monthlyoral

contraceptive

couldhave

a profound

impact onthe

livesof women

aroundthe

world.

’

AmySchulmAn,

chiefexecutive,

Lyndra Therapeutics

ALEXHOGAN/STAT

STAT

This company

envisions a

once-a-month

option for birth

control pills

ByJonChesto

GLOBESTAFF

They were once inseparable, thenthey

battled in court. Now, they’ve reacheda

truce.

Christopher Kimball and America’s Test

Kitchen, the mediabusiness he once oversaw,

together announcedThursday that the two

sides have resolved their three-yearlegal bat-

tle over his launch of a rival venture.

Kimball and ATK issued a joint statement

with few details aboutthe settlement, which

is aimedat heading off a trial scheduled for

October in Suffolk Superior Court.

Kimballhas agreedto sell his shares in

ATK back to the company for an undisclosed

price. Bothsidesalso agreed to terms that

will allow ATK and Kimball’s venture,called

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, to coexist.

Bothrun similar businesses. ATK, based

at the Innovation and DesignBuilding in

SouthBoston, publishesthe Cook’s Illustrat-

ed and Cook’s Country magazinesas well as

10-pluscookbooks a year, and producesthe

“America’s Test Kitchen” and “Cook’s Coun-

try” cooking shows for publictelevision.

Likewise, Kimball’s Milk Street produces

its own cooking magazine as well as public

televisionand radio shows, and runs cooking

classes out of its Financial District digs.

ATK sued Kimball in October 2016, accus-

ing the celebrity chef of breachof trust by

workingonthenewventurewhilestillonthe

ATK payroll. In its lawsuit, ATK said Kimball

used the company’s databases and recipes to

help get Milk Street off the ground.

The two sidesissued a brief statementthat

concluded:“America’s Test Kitchen and

ChristopherKimball’s Milk Street agreethat

an amicable separation is in the best interest

of their respective companies.”

Kimball, a regular contributor to the

Globe’s Sunday magazine, declinedto com-

mentaboutthe settlement to the Globe.

Jon Chestocanbe reached at

[email protected] Twitter

@jonchesto.

Cooking businesses settle legal battle

LANE TURNER/GLOBESTAFF/FILE

ChristopherKimballwithhiswife,MelissaBaldino,
at ChristopherKimball’s Milk Street in Boston.

MORE

PHARMALOT

With therising cost of

insulin, more peoplewith

diabetesare nottakingtheir

medicationB

JonChesto

CHESTOMEANS BUSINESS

A botched construction job from
three decades ago will finally be fixed
when a new power line that stretches
across Boston Harbor to the Deer Is-
land sewage treatment plant delivers
its first jolt of electricity on Friday.
What a saga it has been to get to
this point — one that landed Ever-
source, the Massachusetts Water Re-
sources Authority, Massport, and the
US Army Corps of Engineers in feder-
al court to sort out the mess. The end
result: a $115 million power line,
fundedby MWRA sewer customers.
The new, 4.3-mile connection replac-
es an old line that ended up in the
wrong place, at the wrong time.
The first powerconnection was
made to Deer Island about 30 years
ago, to power up a plant whose main
purpose was no less ambitious than
the cleanup of the polluted harbor. A
contractor workingon behalf of Ever-
source predecessor Boston Edison-
buried the old power line roughly a
dozen feet from the seabedas it tra-
versed the Reserved Channel, along
an industrial area of South Boston.
The problem?The federal permit
required the line to be at least 25 feet
under the sea floor, all the way to
Deer Island. The crew apparently ran
into bedrock in the channel, making
progress difficult. Maybe they
thought no one would notice.
Flash forward nearly 30 years. It
turns out plenty of peoplenoticed,
eventually. This misplaced power line
became a big deal. Here’s why: It’s in
the way of a $350 milliondredging
project that would allow bigger con-
tainer ships to dock in the Reserved
Channel, at Massport’s Conley Termi-
nal.
As you might imagine, litigation
ensued. The Army Corps sued Ever-
source and the MWRA, Deer Island’s
operator, in 2016 over the violated
permit. Massport eventually joined in
as a co-plaintiff.
They settled their differences the
following year under a judge’s watch-
ful eye: Eversource would build a new
power line at the appropriate depths.
MWRA ratepayers would pick up the
tab. The new line avoids the bedrock
at the bottom of the Reserved Chan-
nel by running on a parallel path un-
derground in South Boston, in part
through the Conley Terminal proper-
ty, before going underwater just north
of Castle Island and heading across
the harbor’s main shipping channel.
The MWRA agreed to pay $48.
million up front, and another $48.
million over 30 years. Eversource
credited the MWRA $17.5 million to
CHESTO, PageB

Power line

under harbor

charged up

GLOBESTAFF

Massachusetts General Hospital

said Thursday that a data breach in its

neurology department has exposed

the private informationof nearly

10,000 people.

“An unauthorizedthirdparty” ac-

cesseddata in two computerprograms

used by researchers, Mass. General

said.

The breach exposeddata aboutpar-

ticipantsin certainresearchpro-

grams, includingtheirnames,dates of

birth, medicalrecord numbers, and

medical histories. Social Security

numbers and financial information

were not disclosed, according to the

hospital.

The incident occurred in June. The

hospital has begun notifyingpeople

who were affected.

“As soonas MGHdiscovered this

incident, it tooksteps to prevent fur-

ther unauthorized access,” spokesman

Michael Morrison said in a statement.

“MGH also engaged a third-party

forensic investigator to conduct a re-

view and has contacted federal law en-

forcement as a precaution,” he said.

The hospital said it does not believe

that participantsshouldtake any spe-

BREACH,PageB

MGH says breach exposed

private data of 10,000 people

PATGREENHOUSE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE